A Gloucestershire farmer living with the realities of bovine TB

Month: May 2015

It’s nearly a year since I started this blog, so I thought I would have a look back at the posts I have written. I have to say, the early posts I still find very hard to read. The raw emotion comes flooding back.

So are we in a better place so far as bTB is concerned? Have we made progress in beating this terrible disease? I’d like to say a resounding yes but I can’t. BTB has become even more political with the election only days away, the result will be crucial as to whether common sense can prevail or whether it cannot.

As a beef farmer in the SW the only hope I have as a way forward to eradicate bTB is in the pilots in Glos and Somerset, we are seeing such encouraging results. No surprise too many as all the previous trials have shown reduction in bTB were badgers are culled. The current 25 year plan without culling of badgers will be a burdensome waste of time for all

People who like to use this emotive subject for political gain or with hidden agendas do themselves the country especially the countryside a huge disservice. The people that have visited the farm that don’t share my views but have taken the trouble I thank very much, for those that have declined to visit are in my view cowards……and there are a couple.

Cows & Calves at Pasture

With all my cattle turned out to grass for the summer it’s great to see them grazing our meadows and banks. I can’t help but worry about our next 6 month check test in the autumn especially when I see increasing evidence of badgers routing up the pasture for earth worms. What biosecurity can I do when the cattle are at pasture? This year we are using raised mineral feeders from Rumenco which are badger proof to try to minimise everything we can. But it’s the pasture the cattle graze and the interaction between cattle and badgers that we can’t stop when there out grazing.

Raised Mineral Feeders from Rumenco

I thought I would copy a link to the video we poster this time last year just so no one forgets the misery bTB causes on farms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DODojjlxnwY